Brazil to award fighter jet deal to Saab -report

SAO PAULO, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Brazil has decided to award a long-awaited fighter jet contract to Sweden’s Saab AB , according to a report on the website of newspaper Folha de S.Paulo on Wednesday.

Saab’s bid was the most affordable option presented to Brazil and involved the best terms for technology transfer to local industrial partners, inclining President Dilma Rousseff toward choosing it, a government source told Reuters.i

Earlier on Wednesday, Rousseff said the country would announce a decision on a jet deal worth at least $4 billion, considered one of the most important pending emerging-market defense contracts.

Saab has not received word of a final decision on the deal, but executives will meet with the Brazilian government later on Wednesday, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.